Snowplow



Nov. 27,1928.

c. L. WALLING l'693187 YSNOWPLOW Filed April 25, 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 /6 gwwwtoz fi' z. @4005 L. MLL/NG clam Nov. 27, 1928.

C. L. WALLING SNOWPLOW Filed April 25, 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 ed, embody a blade Patented Nov. 27, 1928.

CLAUDE L. WALLING, OF

snnnnwmm, NEW YomL- SNOWPLOW.

Application filed April 25,

My invention relates to im snow or ice plows.

Snow or ice plows provements in as ordinarily constructor shear, disposed at a transverse angle to the direction of travel of the plow and is intended to work or throw snow or ice from the roadway to one side of the plow. The difliculty encountered 1n connection with this construction is that the Hsnow sticks or accumulates upon the plow IN I ISO

instances, when these shear, to such an extent, that the proper or successful operation of the machine is prevented, if not entirely stopped. -It is .customary in machines of this character to scrape or remove accumulated snow from the blade by means of hand shovels or the like. Attempts have been. made to automatically remove the accumulated snow from the plow blade or shear by means of rotatable fans or elements, arranged at the side of the blade.- As far as I am aware these fans have their blades so positione that their longitudinal axes are radial with respect to the axis of rotation of the fan. These fans to be effective are rotated at a high speed, at about sixteen to eighteen hundred'revolutipns per minute. A machine equipped with this type of rotatable fan is open to the objection that when the plow is fed forwardly into the snow or ice, that such snow or ice offers such resistance to the rotation of the fan, that the fan is choked or stopped, or its rotation reduced below the point at which it is effective. In some rapidly rotating fans are moved into a snow drift, the machine is fed rearwardly by the action of these fans upon the snow.

In accordance with my invention, I provide a snow plow embodying a, transversely inclined blade or shear, which is fed forwardly into the snow, and a rotatable fan is located adjacent to the outer side of the blade, and functions to remove the accumulated snow from the blade. The fan is of a peculiar construction whereby it throws the snow from proximity to the blade, and will offer the least resistance with the snow, when fed forwardly into the same. This is accomplished by arranging the blades of the fan so that their longitudinal axes are substan tially or generally parallel with the axis of rotation of the fan. As a result of this, the forward ends of the fans are initially brou ht into engagement with the snow,

and t ese' ends present the minimum area of mobile upon which the snow- 1927. Serial No. 186,357.

contact, with the consequent reduction in pressure between the snow and fa Th blades of the fan are, n 6

therefore, generally horizontally arranged, and in order that their longitudinal edges may not offer too much resistance by engagement with a snow bank or the like, at the side of the roadway, these horizontal .bladesare preferably equipped with spiral cutting blades, which will serve to shave or cut the snow bank.

Further, it has been found that the load placed upon the engine of a truck or autoplow may be mounted 1s .too great for the automobile englue, and I contemplate employing a sepa rate engine to drive the rotatable fan or fans. The blades of my snow plow are angularly arranged and this provides a suitable space between them. for the reception of the forward end of the truck or the like, and also" for the reception of the separate engine, and

the gearing between this engine and the rotatable fans. This provides a very compactand advantageous arrangement, wherein the operating p way.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which like numerals are employed to designate like parts'throughout the same,

Figure 1 is a plan view of a snow plow; embodying my invention,

Figure 2 is a. side elevation of the same, Figure 3 is a front end elevation of the same, 1

Figure 4 is a rear end elevation same,

arts of the unit are out ofthe of the Figure 5 is a front end elevation of one v of the rotatable fans or rotors,

Figure 6 is a longitudinal section taken on line 6-6 of Figure 5, I

Figure 7 is a fragmenta one of the blades or shears s owing an auxiliary guard above the fan or rotor, and,

Figure 8 is a plan view of a of the invention. a

In the drawings, wherein for the purpose of illustration, is shown a preferred embodiment of my invention, the numeral 10 designates an automobile, such as a truck, embodying chassis beams 11, hood 12 and front plan view of modified form steering wheels 13. This is the usual auto- 7 mobile construction.

My snow plow embodies a lower scooping or raising blade or shear 14, the forward end 15 of which is suitably sharpened. This "scooping or raising hlade be constructed desired width, depending upon the in any width of the roadway which it is desired to zclean,.it being .preferredthat this blade extend for substantially the entire Width of the d -s urface'to'be cleaned. llhissc'ooping of raising blade 14 is slightly inclined and extends upwardly iii a rearwardly direction,

and by this arrangement only the forward end of the j thus reducing friction, and serving to verti- "callyraisethe snow or ice, thustending to. Y The turning blade on shearl l is provided with a longitudinal V- 'shaped openino bladetravels in contact with'the roadway,

break up the same 16, converging rearwardly,

and the rear large end of this opening is "L edapted to receive the front end of the hood 12 and wheels 13,-to' afiord suflicient specs for -.the steering oi the wheels.

The numeral lTdesignates a yo'ke', extend ing over and above the-hood l2 and bolted ortrigidly attached to'the-front end of the chassis beams 11. This'yokelis connected at its top and sides with ;rear"diagonal braces "18, which vextend. rearwardl and down .wardly and are bolted orrigi ly attached'to the'chassis' beams 11, as shown. Rigidly'ah' t'achedto'the yoke 1'? at itstop and sides are forward diagonal braces 20,.Which are bolted or rigidly attached to upstanding. turning blades orshears 21, as shown at 22. The rear ends of these turning blades are also connected s with transverse diagonalibraces 23,rigidly attached thereto, and to the top of the yoke as '17. It is thus seen that a rigid truss structure is provided vfor mounting the'rehr end of the y Y snow plow'iipon the :loiwerd'end ofthe chessis of the-truck. Ihave found that thisc'on- I nection is well-suited iorits purpose, yetthe invention, is not necessarily restricted to this precise connection, as other. connecting means me be employed.

he upstanding turning blades on nold boa'rds 21am preferably formed of stifi sheet or: plate metahflandthese turning bludes are angularlypositioned with respect to 'each other, extendlongitudinally-above the blade l und converfige forwardly. As a result of 1- 1' 1 .5 r n M ar space is efiozded between theseturning blades or mold boardsywhich coincides with'thespace 16. At their lowen edges, the turning blades 21 are riveted or otherwise rigidly attachedto the"scoopii'ig 'L' blade 14, and serveto stifien and reinforce sa" thatthese turning blades extend. for substanthe same, attention berngcalled to the fact 4 tially the entire length to the generally horisontal scoopin blade. lliese turning blades 21 are circularly curved in cross section with the curvature increasing reerwerdlyu lltiveted or otherwise rigidly attached to the neon ends of the turning blades 21 are preferably circular disks 24, upon the rear sides of which are rigidly secured diametrically extending bars 25, carrying f-shaped needle? bearings 27 and the brackets 26 with bearings 28, and these hearings rot-stably receive horizontallong1tud1nal fan shafts 29. The shafts 29 are equipped with collars 30, rigidly attached thereto, to prevent the rearward longitudinal displacement of the shafts. These shafts project forwardly beyond the disks or heads 24 into the turning blades 21 and are arranged above the scooping blade 1%, and l cleaning fans .or rotors 30 are mounted upon these shafts, to turn therewith. Since these ions or rotors are identical, a description of one Wlll sufiice for both. Each an or rotor embodies a rear disk 3i, see more particularly Figures 5 and 6. This dish is rigidly mounted upon the sl1aft29. -Arranged in advance oithe (llSlZ 31 and spaced therefrom is an auxiliary disk 82, of smaller diameter, which is also rigidly mounted upon the shaft 29. The numeral 33 designates blades, arranged -l raclrets26. The bars 25 are equipped with I in an annular series about the'auxiliaiy dish 32, andengaging its periphery, and rigidly attached to the same by straps 34 or the like;

'llhe rear ends of these blmes are also rig idly attached to the'l ront face of the dish 31,by straps 35. The outer edges of the blades 33 are flush with the periphery of the disk 31.. The blades 33-ht1ye their longitudine l axes arranged substantially horizontal and substantially parallel "with the axis of rotation of the ten. or icotor end its shaft 29, These blades have their transverse axes re dislly disposed with respect to the axis of rotation ofthe fun; The blades 33 are reletively'long While they have a relatively short radial dimension. The forward ends of these blades are provided with short transverse heads 36', whichare beveled or sharpened, as

shown at 38. 1 preferably reinforce and connect the forward ends of the bled-es 33 ring 38, placed in notches 39 in the blades,

Y and this ring is secured to the blades hy straps 40 or the like. While the blades 33 are shown as horizontal, t ey may be slightly inclined,

' in which event they would preierably diverge retarwardly, However, the blades must main generally horizontal. so that their ends,

- i'ather than their longitudinal edges will bebrought into engagement with the snow or ice, during the forward feeding movement of the machine.

In order that the outer:longitudina edges tension 42, which is hinged to the blade 16 lid 43, his hood ma be employed when it is de ent t is fans or rotors throwing wardly for too great an extent, as a street or roadway in the front Nhere the machine is operatne open country this guard is not g more particularly to Figures 1, 2 nd 4, it will. be seen that the rear ends of the ts 29 have beveled gears 42, rigidly hereto, and these beveled gears enveled gears 43, rigidly mounted upon id, which are arranged within the .6, and converge forwardly. The rear these shafts are held within bearin s and reinforce and stifien the M c i forward ends, these shafts l i veled gears 48, engaging a beveled ri idly mounted u on a shaft 50, be the crank sha t of aninternal i such engine. The rear end of the 1S ournaled in a bearing 52, carried zcace braclret The engine 50 is rig- "iounted upon transverse bars 53, which attached to the turning blades 21, e support the engineand to. reineludes, It is thus seen that a sepaotor is employed to drive the fan or rnd thatthis motor is bodily mounted 4 e blades 31 and is included in the snow Earthen. the driving means beand rotors or fans are also enupon' the snow plow unit. "itageous inasmuch as it permits Y the i v unit being separated from the hen the snow plow is not in use and all the snow plow will then be mainhe invention. In this rig c hie n'elllbial ldesignates a scooping or l ie or shear, corresponding generblade i l. At the rear end of this 'stransversely inclined turning pending generally to one turn- A fan or rotor 56, identical with tor 30, is mounted at one edge of upon the side of the turning blade driven by a gear 57, engaging ed by a shaft 59. This shaft is ii as from the crank shaft of the en l; or automobile 62. When one yed, l have found the same I engine of the truck .ns employed, it is prefer 1 sep rate motor to drive them. e means be employed to at end of the blade 54 with the uclr, including bars 63 and 6e.

edges ofthe turning blades 21.

' ve shown a plan view of a ar engaging a gear 61, which i In the operation of the first form of the in vention, the engine 51 is set into action and drives the rotors or fans 30 in opposite directions, so that their upper portions are turning outwardly, as indicated by the arrows. These 7 rotors are preferably driven at about nine to fourteen hundred revolutions a minute, although the speed may be varied, as found advantageous, depending somewhat upon the e character of the snow or ice to be handled. 7 The truck is now moved forwardly at a suitable speed, such as from about twelve to eigh teen miles an hour, depending upon the conditions. The lower or elevating blade has its forward end scraping along the roadway and will break or loosen up the snow or ice which feeds rearwardly upon the same to engage the turning blades or mold boards 21. Such snow or ice now travels in contact with the mold boards which tend to roll the same laterally and outwardly whereby it engages the forward ends'or blades 36 of the rotors. These rapidly.'rotating blades cut or break up the snow or ice before it enters the rotors. As the contactarea of the ends of these blades is relamtively small, the resistance that the snow or ice offers to the rotation of the rotors is slight. The major portion of this snow or ice enters the rotors and is thrown outwardly byzcircumferential force as the same clears the top The. discharge of the snow is also aided by radially and outwardly traveling currents of air, traveling in front of and behind the auxiliary disk 32. The airfrom behind the disk 32 is 1"" supplied through the openings 31. This air tends-to aid in the discharge of the ice and snow and also clean the rotors. The longitudinal edges of the blades 30 are prevented from initially cont-acting with banks of snow or ice along the side of the roadway,-by the spirally curved cutters 41, which first shave or cut the same. I a

The operation oi the form of the device shown in Figure 8 is very similar to that 1 stated in connection with the first form of the invention, the princi a-l diflerence being that only one turning bla e and rotor'is employed.

It is to be understood thatthe forms of my IlIlVI1tlO11,llEl8Wlth shown and described, are 11 to be taken as preferred examples of the same, and that various changes in the shape, size arrangement of parts may-be resorted to without departing from the s irit of my in-- vention, or the scope of the sulljoined claims.

Having thus described my invention, I

1. In a snow plow, a scooping blade, a turnin blade arranged above the scooping blade to deflect the snow or the like laterally and 325 outwardly, a hollow rotor arranged near the outer side of the turning blade to discharge the snow or the like laterally and outwardly from the same, said hollow rotor embodying spaced blades having their longitudinal axes 3 ig ifoxiinately parallel with the axis of rota'tlon' of the rotor, the forward endof the rotorgbein open sojthat the 'snowor the like mayQpass nto the hollow'rotor' inwardly of isaidbladesv 2. In asnow plow, a scooping blade, a

' a ing bladearranged near. and above the scoop- I j ing blade to deflect the snowor the like lat orally and outwardly, a hollow rotor arranged .1391

near the outer side of theturning blade and having its'a'xis of. rotation extending longi means to drive the rotor. i blade arranged near anda ove thescoop mg blade, a-rotor arranged near the outer side *f-tudinally of the scooping)blade,fisaid hollow "rotor embodying spaced.

lades having their the axis of rotation of the rotor, said same inwardly ofthe spaced-blades, and

3.' Ina snow plow, ascoopm blade, a turn- ..l the turning blade and having'its longi- --,.t'udinal' axisiexte'nding longitudinally of the proximately parallel with the axis of-rotation'of the rotor,'said blades being'provided' I at their forward, endswith cutting edges,-the' turning blade, said rotor embodying spaced bladeshaving their longitudinal axes apforward' end of the rotor beingopen so that v the snowor the like may enter'the same, and; i.,;means'to-drive the rotor. J In a snowj'plow,as'a subcombination, a

hollow rotor embodying an annularset'of blades iarr'ang'ed at the periphery 'of'thero tor and having their longitudinal axes fap i: proximately parallel with the axis'of; rota- .tion of the rotor, said blades 'being provided I at their forwardends with cutting edges, the 40 snow or the likemay forward end of the rotor being open so that rotor inwardly of the blades. I

e 5..In a snow plow,'as' a subcombi'nation, arotor embodying an annular set of blades hav ing their lon tudinal axes approximately parallel with t c axis ofrot'ation of the rotor,

the forwardendof the rotor being open, and

i spirally;curvedcuttingblades arranged'outwardly of the periphery of the rotor and connected therewith to turn withjthe' same. H

6. In a snow plow; a: scooping blade, a

pair of forwardly converging turning blades arranged near and above the scoopingblade and extending laterally and outwardly, an l pair of hollow rotorsw mounted outwardly pass into the hollow: A

" a 9; In asnow plow, a turning blade, means to move the turning'blade forwardly in a having their axes of rotation extending lon itudinally oithe" direction'of travel of t 1e snowplow, each rotor embodying spaced .blades 'havingtheir lon itudinal axes approximately parallel wit axis ofrotation of the rotor, each rotor having its forward end open so that snow or the like may enter the same inwardly ofithe so the longitudinal ranged near and above the scooping blade and inclined laterally and outwardly,a pair of hollow rotors disposed near and outwardly approximately para lel with th'e'axis of rotation of the rotor,. theforwardend of each -rotor being open whereby snow or the like jmay enter-therotor, and means to drive said rotor.

. 8.111 a snow plow, a scooping blade, a pair of forwardly converging turning blades mounted upon the scooping blade and form- ;inga space therebetween,'rotor shafts arranged upon the outer sides of" the turning blades and extending longitudinally thereof,

rotors mounted upon said shafts, a motor mounted within the spacebctween the turning blades,a pair of forwardly converging shafts arranged within saidspace, dr ving connecting means between the forward ends of the shafts and the motor, and driving connecting-means between the rear ends of said shafts and the rotor shafts.

at its forward end, and means to drive the rotor. I

In testimony whercoflaflix my signature.

CLAUD .L. WALLING. 

